


Fear and Trust

by The_Lady_Crane



Series: IkeSoren Week 2021 [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Soen no Kiseki/Akatsuki no Megami | Fire Emblem Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, I'm Bad At Titles, IkeSoren Week 2021, Introspection, M/M, Nightmares, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Short, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-05
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:15:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28575111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Lady_Crane/pseuds/The_Lady_Crane
Summary: When Ike suffers from nightmares, Soren is there for him - just as Ike has always been there for Soren.---IkeSoren Week 2021Day 2: Fear/Trust
Relationships: Ike/Senerio | Soren
Series: IkeSoren Week 2021 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2091183
Kudos: 19
Collections: IkeSoren Week 2021





	Fear and Trust

**Author's Note:**

> Forgive the title - I'm so bad at titles. >_<

Soren doesn’t mind it when Ike wakes him in the middle of the night, shouting and thrashing about. He doesn’t mind being pried from sleep. He is instantly alert, and ready to do what he needs to do. He takes Ike’s hand in his, curls his body around Ike’s trembling form, speaks soothingly to him until the episode passes. Sometimes, Ike wakes up, but often he remains asleep, passing from one dream into the next, completely unaware of what’s going on.

When he does wake, he is apologetic. He wraps his arms around Soren and strokes his hair as if Soren is some kind of animal. But Soren doesn’t mind. He lets Ike hold him and pet him. He murmurs softly to him, usually, to tell him where they are, to tell him that they’re safe. To tell him that they’re far away from Tellius and its memories.

Whether Ike wakes up or not, he always drifts back into pleasant dreams. His arms remain entwined around Soren’s body, holding him close, and Soren presses against him, hoping to impress himself into Ike’s dreams. Hoping to ward off any further nightmares.

They don’t happen so often anymore. Since their departure from Tellius, Ike’s sleep has improved drastically. But still, now and then, the past comes back to haunt him. Soren does what he can, and he doesn’t begrudge Ike for the lost sleep. He’s glad that he can help in this small way. If he has to lose some sleep to do it, then who cares?

The fact is that it makes Soren happy that Ike trusts him this much. Ike has always been a trusting person, but he’s never been very open with his weaknesses. He tries to be strong for others. Ike always tries to be the one that others can come to when they’re afraid. “A father to his men”, people often said of him, and Ike tried his best to fill the role that people expected of him. But the fact is that Ike is far more vulnerable than most would believe. He has fears and worries, and he struggles with them just the same as anyone else. Nobody knows this as well as Soren does, because Soren is the one person for whom Ike will let his weaknesses show. That kind of trust is humbling and honoring, and Soren would die before he betrayed or abused it.

When these nightmares disturb their sleep, Soren can’t help but remember a time when Ike was the one helping him through rough nights. Ike still does, in fact – many times, Soren wakes up to find Ike holding him tight, silent but solid, until Soren can no longer remember what woke him in the first place. And from the very beginning, it’s been this way. Soren still remembers those long, lonely nights in the old fort, when a warm hand would find his in the darkness and keep the nightmares away until morning.

After Soren had found Ike again, after he had joined the Greil Mercenaries, he had been disappointed to find that Ike didn’t remember him. Still, it wasn’t unexpected. He had always thought that the life-saving gesture meant a lot more to him than it did to Ike. The only thing that really bothered him was that the cheerful, outgoing boy had become subdued, quieter and almost morose in his demeanor. He trained with a single-minded sense of purpose. Soren had almost grieved for him, because obviously, life had been so cruel to him in the time between their meetings.

And yet, Ike still held his hand at night. When Soren awoke seeing fangs and claws and stones, when he heard harsh words flung at him, something warm and firm captured his hand and held on. Ike would reach across the space between their cots, and Soren became calm instantly, because Ike was there, and Ike wouldn’t let anyone hurt him.

Soren can still feel that hand in his as he strokes Ike’s hair in the wee hours of the morning. And when Ike does wake up and apologize, all Soren can say is, “Don’t worry about it, Ike.”

**Author's Note:**

> One thing I love about their relationship is how tender they are to each other. I feel like, at first, Soren was set on repaying Ike's initial kindness towards him; but over time, he learned how to genuinely care for other people.


End file.
